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Dell: Working on an Android Netbook?

Dell may be cooking up a series of netbooks based on Android software. On May 6, software company Bsquare announced that ??t is porting Adobe?? Flash Lite 3.17 technology onto Dell Netbooks running Google?? Android platform.?

Dell hasn’t officially announced any netbooks based on Android, which is an operating system developed by a slew of companies including Google. Dell hasn’t yet returned my request for comment.

But I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bsquare leak holds water. After all, Dell has long put out computers based on open-source operating system Linux. Some people prefer them. Plus, they can be cheaper than machines based on Microsoft’s Windows. Android is just the latest variant of the open-source software, and lots of companies, including Hewlett-Packard, are testing it out. So, why not Dell?

Clearly, this is great news for Google, and bad news for Microsoft, the maker of Windows operating system that dominates the market today. If Dell jumps onto the Android bandwagon, the move could push other companies toward Android as well.